http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/how_long_can_gop_leaders_ignore_tea_party_death_threats_20100325/How Long Can GOP Leaders Ignore Tea Party Death Threats?
Posted on Mar 25, 2010
By Eugene Robinson
Let’s not pretend anymore that the tea party movement is harmless. The right to protest is one of our cherished American freedoms. But
there is no right to vandalism, no right to threaten our elected officials’ lives. Someone is going to get hurt unless those who lead the movement—and those who exploit it—start acting like responsible adults.
What are the chances of that?
snip//
On Thursday, tea party leaders around the country issued statements strongly denouncing threats or violence against members of Congress or anyone else. A number of the leaders said there was no proof that the perpetrators were members of tea party organizations.
But this strikes me, and probably will strike others, as disingenuous.
The tea party movement is fueled by rhetoric that echoes the paranoid ravings of the most extreme right-wing nutcases. When tea party leaders talk about the threat of “socialism” and call for “a new revolution” and vow to “take our country back,” they can say they are simply using vivid metaphors. But they cannot plausibly claim to be unaware that there are people—perhaps on the fringe of the movement, but close enough—who give every sign of taking these incendiary words literally.And does anyone doubt that the movement attracts the kind of people who take these words literally?
Organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center have documented the troubling rise of right-wing militia and “patriot” groups. Political leaders who appropriate and reinforce the extremists’ language—who urge angry people to “reload”—are being reckless.
They must stop this madness before someone gets hurt.
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